Saviours Of The Mantle
by DanAbnettFan1997
Summary: The year is 2545, and mankind is on the run. Faced with the inexorable advance of the Covenant juggernaut, hope is all but lost. However, unknown to the UNSC, a deal struck millennia ago may turn the tide of the war. A deal that could yet ensure the Reclaimers their inheritance, and save the human race. For the Mantle Of Responsibility must be upheld, no matter the cost...
1. Prologue

**Saviours Of The Mantle**

* * *

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + TRANSMITTED: Cadia

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++RECEIVED: Hydraphur

\+ + + + + DESTINATION: Inquisitor Garren Ricci, Ordo Xenos, Hydraphur Navy Docks.

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++DATE: 2889999.M41

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CLEARENCE: VERMILLION

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + +TELEPATHIC DUCT: HYD 8459/8B Dyreson

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + +REF: INQ482046493/SO

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++AUTHOR: Lord Inquisitor Aran Endor, Ordo Xenos

\+ + + + + + + +SUBJECT: A new mission

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +THOUGHT: "Blessed is the mind too small for doubt."

Ricci,

Not getting too used to soft beds I hope? It looks like you're going to be seeing some action a lot sooner than you expected. Eight standard days ago, astropathic choirs in and around the Cadian Gate recieved a message, the same message, on a massive scale, from a world located deep within the Halo Stars. The only beings capable of such a feat are alpha-primaris class psykers, and daemonic entities. Very few beings known to Inquisitorial Records have enough power for something of this scale. Whichever it is, it needs to be investigated. The contents of the message were extremely simple, reading only:

++THE MANTLE CALLS FOR THE IMPERIUM'S DEBT. COME, CHILDREN OF THE EMPEROR. ++

This also came with a set of co-ordinates for the origin of the message. As you can probably guess, the Inquisition around here is in a tizzy, there have not been such broadcastings as this since the days when the Emperor walked amongst us. Word has already been dispatched back to Holy Terra, and we are sending someone to investigate. As you have probably already guessed, that someone is going to be you. The Imperium's debt. This could very well spell more trouble for mankind, trouble we do not need at the moment, not with 13th Black Crusade in full swing.

The reinforcements you have mustered at Hydraphur has been deemed of sufficient size and power to handle any threat this investigation may present, and if not, hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. I know you may be worried about us here at the Gate, but you must lay your concerns aside, this has been deemed to be of much greater importance. We are holding well, I have conferred with all available Inquisitors and tacticians have confirmed the delay of your reinforcements will not hinder us too much. Cadian High Command have agreed to let you be diverted.

Speak with those under you, Shadow Captain Shaan in particular. I know him and his brothers are eager to get in the fight. If the tides are with you, the world should be six weeks from Hydraphur, eight if they are not. Fill your supply trawlers to the brim, it may be needed. Needless to say, due to the sheer power of the message, I'm sure we are not the only ones who have picked it up. The servants of the Ruinous Powers, I suspect, have also intercepted the broadcast.

This could be the start of something big, Garren, and it could greatly affect the Imperium, for better or for worse. I anxiously await your word. And for Throne's sake, bring that damn she-wolf with you, Emperor knows she needs the experience.

The Emperor protects!

Your friend and mentor,

Lord Inquisitor Aran Endor.

{Message _ends}_

* * *

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +TRANSMITTED: Hydraphur

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++RECEIVED: Cadia

\+ + + + + + DESTINATION: Lord Inquisitor Aran Endor, Ordo Xenos, Kasr Lutien, Cadia

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++DATE: 2890999.M41

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +CLEARENCE: VERMILLION

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + +TELEPATHIC DUCT: CAD 4725/4T Forester

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + +REF: INQ482046494/SO

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +AUTHOR: Inquisitor Garren Ricci, Ordo Xenos

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +SUBJECT: A new mission

\+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +THOUGHT: "The words of the faithful are mountains, but the deeds of the faithful are the world."

My lord,

While your message was unexpected, it is good to hear that you are well and safe. Admittedly, I am a little disappointed that I am being diverted from the frontlines. As you correctly said, I and the others commanders are getting tense. It seems that I will have to bear with it for the foreseeable future, but if it is the will of the Emperor, I shall not flinch in my duty. I will carry out your orders to the best of my abilities.

I have assured complete support from the other commanders. Colonel Raines and Colonel Aleuton have no problem with the diversion, but Magos Tevlan was positively bursting with excitement (I think... you can never tell with the Mechanicus) for the prospect of something new and undiscovered. Admiral Quarren is a little unhappy about the fleet change, but it was no trouble. Captain Shaan was the most hesitant, unwilling to leave the rest of his Chapter to fight without him, and I don't blame him. His stint with the Ultramarines kept him away for long enough, but he said perhaps a few more months couldn't hurt, especially if it turned out there was potentially a fight to be had.

This case does indeed intrigue me, and I am glad it is my taskforce that has been chosen for the role. As you say, this could either be something great or something terrible for the Imperium, and either way, I would like to be present for its discovery. I must admit, I am actually rather excited to see what could be in store for us. You owe me a drink for this one my lord, and none of that cheap crap either. That bottle of Tanith sacra you've been saving will do nicely.

I will send word when I have news.

In the name of the Emperor!

Your loyal servant,

Inquisitor Garren Ricci

 _{M_ _essage ends}_


	2. Chapter 1: The Emperor Protects

**Saviours Of The Mantle**

 _ **Chapter 1: The Emperor Protects**_

 _The weak will always be led by the strong. Where the strong see purpose and act, the weak follow; where the strong cry out against fate, the weak bow their heads and succumb. There are many who are weak; and many are their temptations. Despise the weak for they shall flock to the call of the Daemon and the Renegade. Pity them not and scorn their cries of innocence - it is better that one hundred innocently fall before the wrath of the Emperor than one kneels before the Daemon.  
\- The First Book Of Indoctrinations_

"Down, now!" screamed Captain Eckbar as he tackled Trooper Reiss to the muddy ground at the bottom of the trench. Above them, a scorching explosion passed over the edge of the dug-out, killing several Guardsman and shredding several more with the shrapnel. They were taking a severe beating from the enemy forces, who were well organised, well supplied, and who had the backing of the traitor legions. For the last twelve hours since their deployment, him, his squad, and several companies of the Cadian 212th had been bogged down at a ridge near to the main enemy compounds. Morale was low, but there were rumours that relief was coming soon.

He climbed back to his feet and roughly pulled Reiss back to his, Reiss giving a nod of thanks before resuming fire with his hellgun. Lasfire constantly peppered the lip of the trench, and explosions from mortars and rockets kept him in a perpetual state of being half-deaf. A nearby mortar detonation threw him back against the wall of the trench, his carapace armour taking the brunt of the force. The targeting reticles in his helmet scrambled for a second before re-adjusting. There was a dull ringing in his ears.

"Where the fuck is our air support!?" he screamed hoarsely at Trooper Garced, who was fiddling with the voxcaster mounted on his back and returning fire with his hellgun one-handed at the same time.

"They said it's comin', Cap!" Garced screamed back over the din of the explosions.

"Fuck!" he growled in frustration. That's what they'd been saying for the past two hours. Even though they were Kasrkin, they couldn't last much longer.  
"Kasrkin Squad Alpha, sound-off!" They'd been losing men all day since their deployment to this Emperor-damned ridge, and Eckbar was sure as hell it wasn't going to be in vain. His once twelve-strong squad, comprised of some of the best Kasrkin Cadia had to offer had been reduced down to eight, of his last checking.

"Roland, aye!"

"Caughran, I'm still kicking!"

"Reiss, here sir!"

"Garced, here!" came the trooper's voice from right next to him.

"Merisier, aye!"

"Skult, aye!"

Eckbar paused for a second when the last name didn't come through.

"Panila, you there!? Panila?!" he shouted through the vox.

"Gone, Captain, lost her five ago. Las through the throat." came Caughran's steady voice.

"Fuck!" Eckbar growled under his breath, "Keep fighting, we'll have reinforcements soon!" he shouted desperately back into his vox-bead.

He popped his head over the lip of the trench and took aim with his hellpistol. His other hand constantly rested on the hilt of his power sword. His finger tightened on the trigger as the targeting reticles in his helmet fixed onto the heretics in front of him.

He pulled.

The dull muzzle report of his weapon echoed in his head as his first beam of ruby lasfire blew out a heretic's throat.

He pulled again.

Another fell down, his face a bloody mess.

And twice more.

Another, two steaming holes through his chest.

He ducked back into cover as return lasfire whined past his position. Next to him, a Guardswoman screamed as she fell down, grasping a burnt hole in her shoulder. "Medicae!" Eckbar shouted as he put a lasbolt through the head of the heretic who shot her.

"Cap! We got reinforcements incoming in five! Valkyries are on station!" he heard Garced shout from his right.

"Thank the Emperor! Call them in to provide fire support on the ridge! Anti-infantry and light anti-vehicle munitions!" the relief was evident in Eckbar's voice. For the first time since deployment, things might be looking up.

"They're coming! Thirty seconds!"

"Squad, form up!" shouted Eckbar over the vox, "Air support in thirty seconds!" he shouted to the men down the trenches. A nearby Commissar acknowledged him and relayed the message down the line.

Sergeant Ven Roland was the first to join up with him, Garced and Reiss coming sprinting down the winding trench, firing his hellgun at indiscriminately into the enemy lines, felling several of the heretics.

"We getting reinforcements soon Cap'?" he shouted as he reached them.

"Five minutes!" Eckbar indicated to him as another explosion went off nearby, showering them with dirt.

Caughran, Skult and Merisier reached their side five seconds later, Caughran's armour was badly blackened down one side, with several pieces hanging loose. Merisier had lost his left shoulder guard, but he still carried the squad's meltagun proudly across his chest.  
Skult's only had some superficial damage.

"Keep them suppressed!" Eckbar yelled, directing his squad's fire, "Air support's almost here!"

Ruby lasfire filled the air in front of the trench as six hellguns let loose on full auto, blowing back a squad of heretics attempting to charge the trench.

"Merisier! They're bringing in more troops, hit the cargo-8!" cried Eckbar, pointing at the enemy transport.

"With pleasure." Merisier grinned, and aimed his meltagun downrange at the vehicle. There was a hiss and a crack of ionising air. A beam of bright blue light shot out of the barrel of the meltagun, burning itself into Eckbar's retinas and striking the front of the vehicle. The engine block ignited, the vehicle detonating in a stunning explosion, killing several of the cultists around it.

"Good shot!" The Captain clapped Merisier on the back and resumed fire with his hellpistol, cutting down another one of the enemy.

"Air support's here Captain!" Garced yelled. Eckbar felt a wave of relief of pass over him as a pair of Valkyrie Gunships passed over the trench, coming to hover before the enemy lines.

"Give 'em hell!" Eckbar shouted, even though he knew the pilots couldn't hear him.

Twin-linked autocannons on the snouts of the Gunships opened up with a whining roar, shredding the heretics in the trenches. Missiles shot out from under the wings, striking heavy weapon emplacements and hastily-constructed bunkers.

"Thank the Throne..." Eckbar heard Roland sigh next to him. The Sergeant sagged down in the trench, removing his helmet and running a hand through his neatly-trimmed auburn hair. Eckbar smiled. Even though they were Kasrkin- some of the best troops the Imperial Guard had to offer, trained exactly for missions such as this, and even much worse- they still had limits, just like all the other troops around them. Sure, they had better weapons, armour and training, but at the end of the day, well...

He was torn out of his thinking by a loud bang and screech of shearing metal, accompanied by the ominous whine of failing rotors. He looked over the lip of the trench with a falling stomach to see one of the gunships go into autorotation, it's right wing sheared off by... something. It hit the ground violently, it's munitions cooking off and engulfing the aircraft in a plume of fire.

He looked to the heretic line, and what he saw there gave even him pause. Two Astartes vehicles advanced there- Predator tanks, if he wasn't mistaken- spewing fire from defaced weapon barrels, the red and black livery of the vehicles confirming his worst fears. The traitor Astartes had arrived.

Cheers of relief from the Guard quickly turned to screams of horror as the two tanks continued to tear apart their lines, and the loud booms were joined by a chorus of bolters as traitor Astartes advancing with the vehicles opened up.

The other gunship tried to desperately swing around, but was struck in the cockpit by a harsh red beam of light from one of the Predator's lascannons, exploding brilliantly and lighting up the sky momentarily.

"Dammit!" shouted Roland, "Air support's gone!"

A terrified Guardsman tried to run past Eckbar, attemting to escape the wrath of the traitor legions. Belknap instead siezed him by the collar of his flak jacket and threw him back towards his fallen lasgun.

"No, don't make me stay!" pleaded the Guardsman, "I have to go... I- I can't die here!"

"If we start running, we've already lost!" Eckbar growled back, seething at the cowardly Guardsman.

The Guardsman whimpered and got to his feet, only to come up facing the barrel of a laspistol.

"Dereliction of duty!" the Commissar hissed, "You know the punishment for this..."

"No, wait I-"

There was an echoing crack as the Commissar summarily executed the Guardsman with a single, succinct lasbolt to the head.

"Here is an example," the Commissar yelled at all the surrounding troops, "Of what happens when you desert your post! Anyone else feel like running now?!"  
The troops around them hastily resumed fire, the lasbolts harmlessly deflected by the traitor marine's power armour. Bolters boomed, shredding Guardsman along the trench.  
The Commissar who executed the Guardsman before took a bolt round to the head, showering Eckbar in gore.

"Where... the hell... are our reinforcements!?" he screamed, snapping off more futile shots with his hellpistol. Though hellguns were more powerful than the standard lasguns, they still lacked the penetration potential to pierce power armour.

The Predators moved ever closer, coming in range to activate their sponson-mounted heavy bolters. Eckbar had a second to duck below the lip of the trench before the ground in front of the trench started exploding with the detonation of the mass-reactive shells.

"Keep your heads down!" screamed Eckbar, his squad dutifully obeying him. They snapped off blind shots with their hellguns wherever they could, but to no avail. They could not peek their heads above the lip of the trench without risking getting them taken off.

"Captain Eckbar, sir!"

Eckbar turned to see a Guardsman and a Commissar sprinting up to him, their heads ducked well below the lip of the trench. Eckbar knew them both well. Major Samuel Wilder, CO of the 212th's A Company, an old friend he knew back from Cadia, and Commissar Nathaniel Lindblum, an old grizzled Commissar well-liked in the regiment for not being a total hard-ass who could often be found mingling with the soldiers in the mess hall. Stories went he hadn't actually executed anyone in years, saying that if soldiers were already running, they would be no better in combat.

"Captain, we're running out of option here!" Wilder shouted over the din of the explosions, "We can't pull back and lose this ridge, the enemy have a straight shot to HQ if we do. We can't get the other companies or Colonel Raines on the horn for reinforcements!"

"The men have stopped running, but neither are they fighting," the Commissar growled, "Damn cowards are too scared to do anything. Nothing I do is gonna help that." he spat.

Troops had stopped fleeing, resigning themselves to their fates as if they left the trench, they would immediately be cut down. Cultists swarmed around the Red Corsairs and the Predators, charging the trench as they saw the opportunity to please their masters.

"Company! Fix bayonets!" Eckbar heard someone shout down the line. There was a clatter as Guardsman fixed the combat knives to the end of their lasguns. His squad did the same, attaching monomolecular-edged combat blades to the ends of their hellguns. Eckbar himself drew his power sword, the blade humming to life as he thumbed the activation button.

"It's too late now." Eckbar turned to Wilder and Lindblum, "We'll have to hold here. It's been an honour, gentlemen."

Both men nodded to him. Wilder attached a bayonet to his rifle and Lindblum revved his chainsword, the brutal weapon letting out a meaty growl. The rest of Eckbar's squad still blazed away on full auto, but nothing could stem the relentless tide crashing towards them.

That was it. The heretics were among them. The first was met with a stab through the throat, the second with a swift pull of the trigger. A knife scratched against his right shoulder guard, he barged away the body the swung it and shot the heretic twice without looking. His sword cut through an arm in a spray of blood, and was immediately followed through with a swing across the sternum, bisecting another. The press of bodies was getting too much. They were almost dead. All it took was one fatal mistake.

He saw Caughran to his left, plunging her bayonet into a throat and pulling the trigger, blasting apart the cultist's head.

He glimpsed Merisier to his right. His meltagun was strung across his back, he had his hellpistol in one hand and his combat knife in the other, scything the shining blade across throats and letting loose quick shots of ruby light.

Roland appeared out of the fray next to him, his bayonet slick with blood. "Fancy seeing you here Cap!"

Eckbar could feel the Sergeant's grin through his vox-bead. Roland was young, recently promoted, one of the youngest Sergeants the Captain had seen in a long time. But still, he was one of the fiercest warriors Eckbar knew, with a natural talent for command and leadership.

Eckbar blocked the swing of a rusting axe, and Roland speared the heretic in the chest. They found themselves back to back, nearly pressed up against the wall of the trench. Eckbar bisected another cultist that leapt down at them from the top of the trench, while Roland blew apart anothers head with a pulse of his hellgun.

"Lovely fucking weather we're having here Roland!"

"Couldn't agree more Cap!" the Sergeant laughed, stabbing another heretic through the throat.

"We've got to move out of the trench!" Eckbar heard Wilder shout across the vox, "Give them room!"

"The fuck do you think we're trying to do?!" Lindblum yelled back as he rammed his chainsword through the gut of another enemy, sending warm blood splattering across the trench.

"Form up on me!" Eckbar shouted into his bead as a dull knife scraped across his shoulder pad. He barged the body away, raised his arm and pulled the trigger of his hellpistol twice, not even bothering to see if his shots connected.

"We're trying Cap!" came Caughran's voice, "Can't bloody see anything in this mess!"

The flow of enemies seemed the be getting thicker, Eckbar was having greater and greater trouble finding room to swing his sword. He lost sight of Wilder and Lindblum, and just glanced Roland through the gory melee. He fought with a cold fury. He hadn't survived for over twenty years to be killed by some heretic on an unknown world in the Halo Stars.

Eckbar's sword cut through another cultist, his hellpistol ruining another face. A hard blow against the back of his helmet knocked him forward, causing him to lose balance. Something swiped his legs out from under him, and he landed hard on his back. His sword clattered out of his hand. He tried to bring his hellpistol to bear at the cultist standing above him, but something stomped on his wrist, he couldn't move his arm.

The leering cultist grinned, raising a razor sharp knife and preparing to plunge it down.

"I won't lose to you..." Eckbar snarled, "Not you, not any of you..."  
The cultist simply continued to grin as the blade flashed downwards-  
Eckbar's helmet was showered with blood as the heretic exploded from the waist up, overpressure from the explosion pressing him down, but his carapace armour took the brunt of it.

A second bolt round detonated a cultist's head nearby, and in less than a second, the heretic's cries of glee were replaced with screams of death.  
Roars of bolters echoed in his eardrums as sat upEckbar wiped the blood heavily from his visor, to see a massive black shape leap the trench above him, a giant gun spitting fire in it's hands.  
No, it can't be... Eckbar thought. He rose to his feet, and a stunned look over the trench confirmed his suspicions. The reinforcements had arrived.

Twenty jet black Astartes advanced ahead of them, shrugging off the incoming fire and returning with their own. Several bodies of the Red Corsairs littered the field; they had clearly been taken off guard. One of the Predator tanks was a molten slag heap, the other was quickly transversing it's guns to aim at the oncoming Astartes.  
Eckbar could only watched as the twin-linked lascannons acquired the targets of the advancing Astartes, and-  
A bright blue light burned itself into Eckbar's retinas as it struck the enemy tank's turret. The turret exploded as the beams continued on through the tank and pierced the fuel block, sending the whole thing up in a massive fireball.

He looked behind him to see a Marine lowering a smoking multi-melta, and another leveling a heavy bolter at the enemy before opening fire, shredding the retreating mass. He sighed in relief and retrieved his power sword, slotting it back into its sheath. He turned his gaze to the trench. It was a blood-soaked mess, the ground no longer visible between the mingling piles of bodies and Guardsmen. The dirt of the walls of the trench was stained utterly red.

He wearily activated his vox-bead. "You all still with me?"

"I'm here." Merisier's voice answered, "I'm getting to you now."

The was a chorus of affirmatives from the rest of the squad. Roland was the first to come back into sight, emerging from round the nearest corner of the trench.

"Got worried there for a minute Cap." he grinned, still smiling after all that carnage.

"Bah, there was no problem." Eckbar replied, clapping hands with Roland and returning the smile.

The rest of the squad came back into view, proud green armour stained a deep red. Skult was clutching his arm to his body, which hung at an unnatural angle, while Garced had his helmet off, his hand pressed to a bloody gash there.

"Injuries?"

"The usual." Caughran replied, "Garced's got a nasty gash there, and Skult's got a broken arm. I'll patch them up best I can here, but Skult's gonna need the medicae facilities onboard the _Cadia_ when we get back up there." the medic said, before she got to work.

"Right." Eckbar said, relieved there was nothing too major. "Reckon you can still fight?" he asked Skult.

Skult looked down, "Wasn't too bad a break Cap, can't handle my main weapon, but I can support you the best I can." he replied confidently, taking his hellpistol in his good hand.

"Good to hear it." the Captain replied, "Wilder? Lindblum? You two still breathing?" he said into the com, changing to the commander's frequency.

"We're still here." came Wilder's voice, "We're gathering the remaining Guardsmen now. Transmission is scratchy but vox got word that Knake's and Mira's companies are heading our way.

"Got it, report back soon." Eckbar replied, cutting his vox-bead. He clambered out of the trench to take a good look around. The enemy forces had been routed, the remaining heretics fleeing back into the nearby forest. The Astartes held position just before the jungle, pouring fire into the trees. Eckbar smiled. This wasn't the first time the Astartes had changed the course of a battle he had been in, and it sure as hell wasn't the first time he had had his ass saved by one.

Angels Of Death. He was in awe of them. He had never seen one falter, never seen one die. Most Imperial citizens went about their lives hearing myths and legends about the Emperor's chosen, but to see them for real was a claim few could make. Even fewer could claim they had fought beside them. Eckbar was one of the proud soldiers who could say that, and more than once as well. Though, he had never actually spoken to one of them.

"Are you in charge here?" came a deep voice from behind him.

He turned and looked up. Well, nevermind.

* * *

"Full salvo!" Captain Jared Hellsreach shouted from his command throne, "Hammer their shields and open them up for the _Saint_ and the _Fury_!"

The Apocalypse-Class Battleship _Hammer's Retribution_ shook as heavy macrocannon batteries along it's starboard side roared silently in unison, massive armour-piercing shells streaking across the void to impact the void shields of a heretic cruiser. In an instant, massive gangs of labourers sprang from sound-proofed bunkers in the cannon's chambers and began hefting colossel shells into the cannon's breech via chain-lifts. Hellsreach was proud to say his ship had one of the fastest reload times in the sector fleet, his men always drilling constantly under his watchful eye whenever they were not in combat.

"Full impact!" his weapons officer shouted, "Enemy shields holding!"

"They're returning fire!" a sensoria officer yelled.

"Shunt power to starboard shields! Take the hit straight on! Keep the cruisers covered!" Jared instructed, "All hands brace!"

The battleship rocked as enemy fire pounded the starboard side. Lights on the bridge flickered slightly.

"Shields holding!" his tech officer cried, "Cycling shields now!"

"Macrocannons are reloaded sir!" the weapons officer yelled.

"Full salvo, narrow spread. I want their shields broken with this one!"

"Sir, firing!"

The guns roared again, briefly lighting up the side of the battleship in the cold dark of space. This time, explosions rocked the side of the enemy cruiser, and it began listing heavily to port. Jared felt a grin of triumph spread across his face.

"That's it, their shields are down! Tell the _Saint_ and the _Fury_ they have their shot! Thirty degrees to port and half-burn, get us clear!"

"Sir!" came a chorus from all of his officers. Behind them, the Lunar-Class Cruisers _Gathamalor's Saint_ and _Righteous Fury_ swept in towards the stricken heretic cruiser. Swinging and presenting their starboard sides to the enemy ship, lance batteries mounted across the ships swivelled in their emplacements towards the enemy, and opened fire. Brilliant golden beams of energy traversed the distance in an instance, and burned straight through the enemy ship. Eight beams cut through the ship, vapourising armour and opening the crew to space. A lance cut through the enginarum and detonated the plasma drives, the whole ship going up in a blinding flash.

"Do we have them?" Admiral Sigmund Quarren asked, turning from the bridge's viewing screen towards Hellsreach. Quarren was a greying old man, but he still wore his uniform firmly and proudly, with his hair swept back and his handlebar moustache neatly combed. It was, some of the crew said, 'the greatest they had ever seen'. He was a veteran, a big player in the Segmentum Pacificus Navy. He had commanded ships and fleets for longer than Hellsreach had been sailing. Wise, understanding, but a total hardass at times, he was the greatest fleet commander Jared knew.

He was a stark contrast to Captain Hellsreach, who wore his uniform messily, with his jet black hair unkempt, and made no attempt to hide the MIU sockets that hardwired him into his command throne. Jared was young for a ship captain, a rising star in the Segmentum Navy. Many had argued against him being given command of a ship, a battleship at that, citing him as reckless and uncaring. Quarren knew better. He cared deeply for his ship and crew, but he also had a devilish streak to him, the will to risk everything to gain everything.

"By the balls, Admiral." Jared grinned, turning to his sensoria officer, "Tell the _Shadow Caller_ to maneuver into position, they are clear now."

Quarren turned to the fleet-wide vox, "All frigates and destroyers are to move to assigned escort duties immediately. The _Pinion, Saint, Fury, Stalinvast, Voss, Harrower, Imperius Crux_ and _Iax_ are to move into a defensive formation around the planet. _Androdamicus_ and _Divine Absolution_ , take up a bombardment position above the objective just in case. The _Pride Of Cadia_ and the _Glory To The Cog_ will standby to recieve troops from the ground. The _Requiem Aeternum_ is to finish off the remaining enemy ship. Quarren out." he finished, turning back to Hellsreach.

Jared leaned forward in his command throne. "Well," he said, smiling, "I guess it's up to the groundpounders now."

* * *

The remaining enemy ship, a stolen Lunar-Class Cruiser, Imperial iconography brutally ripped off and replaced by the defaced and terrible symbols of Chaos, made a hard burn to the opposite side of the planet to the Imperial fleet where they held a high orbit.

"My liege, a single Imperial ship has entered sensor range!" cried a snivelling heretic from his station.

"Fools!" growled the Captain, "They believe a single ship can defeat us? Damn them and their corpse-emperor! Orient our broadside to them, we will make them pay for believing us to be weak."

The defaced cruiser spun, macrocannons, lance batteries, and heavy deck guns all pointing towards the single Imperial ship that had followed them. The Imperial ship slowed and came to a stop, its blunt armoured prow still facing towards the heretic cruiser. Unfortunately for the cultists, that is what the Captain of the Imperial ship had hoped they'd do.

"Will they not even present their guns to us?" the heretic Captain scoffed, "Very well then, prepare to open fire!"

On the Imperial Mars-Class Battlecruiser _Requiem Aeternum,_ Captain Gotch grinned to himself.

"Sir, plasma warhead loaded!" his weapons officer yelled, "Engines are compensating for recoil. Coils are warmed and ready to fire!"

Gotch smiled. "Fire the nova cannon."

From the underside of the Battlecruiser came a single large flash. A skyscraper-sized warhead, fifty metres in diameter shot towards the enemy cruiser at ninety percent the speed of light. The heretics didn't even have time to react. It impacted, ripping through the enemy void shields like wet tissue paper and detonated in the middle of the ship. For a few seconds, the planet below had a second sun and the viewing screen of the _Aeternum_ darkened to compensate for the flash. When the brightness faded, all that was left was few charred parts of the enemy ship that had been ripped clear of the detonation.

The Captain turned to his sensoria officer, "Contact Admiral Quarren, tell him all enemy ships have been taken care of. We are heading back to the fleet now."

* * *

Sirens blared loudly and bathed the drop pod launch chambers of the Adeptus Astartes Strike Cruiser _Shadow Caller_ a deep red as Shadow Captain Aethon Shaan of the Raven Guard 4th Company strode with his Sergeants towards their respective drop pods. Dropping with him into the fray would be Brother-Sergeants Nykona and Tarrik, leading their Tactical Squads into the heart of the enemy with him, Epistolery Vitrius, Apothacary Gentrian and Champion Kaska. Brother Sergeant Khorus would lend heavy support with his Devastators while Sergeant Stryke's Assault Marines would perform recon and ambush enemy formations.

"Warning, warning, one minute to launch. All personnel, evacuate the chamber. Repeat, all personnel, evacuate the chamber."

All Astartes were geared up for a full frontal invasion, relieving the beleagered Guard forces on the ground and pushing up towards the primary objective, a hidden structure somewhere deep within the dense forests of the planet. They believed that was where the message had come from, and where the enemy forces would be greatest. They would chase the cultists into the forest, then link up with the remaining Guard forces and go in search for the structure, all while eliminating the remaining enemy forces. It was a large change to the guerilla and stealth warfare the Chapter specialised in.

"Nykona, Tarrik, your squads are to form up on me as soon as we land. From there, we will rout the enemy forces and push them into the forest. At that time, any remaining Guard forces will reinforce us when we head in. Khorus, direct your squads fire towards enemy emplacements and vehicles, and cover our back. Stryke, you and your squad will move at your own discretion for now, but stay in contact and be cautious. Do not engage if the enemy force could overwhelm you."

"Sir!" all the Sergeants answered him simultaneously, "Good. The Emperor protects, brothers, now let's move!"

"The Emperor Protects!" the rest of the Sergeants echoed before moving towards their own drop pods.

"Victorus Aut Mortis." Shaan whispered as he pulled his drop-harness over himself and secured himself in place.

"Thirty seconds to drop." a monotone voice buzzed over the vox. The ramps of the drop pod closed and airtight seals hissed. The inside of the pod lit up a bright red.

"Twenty seconds." the pilot-servitor droned.

Shaan looked over himself, his bolter was maglocked firmly to his thigh with several extra magazines, with his ornate power sword sitting snugly in its sheath.

"Armed and ready, brothers?" he called to the other occupants of the pod.

"Aye, Captain!" replied Gentrian, the company's apothecary. Old, experienced and wise, he had seen just as many wars and deployments than Shaan himself had, if not possibly more.

"Ready to purge in the Emperor's name!" came the next reply, from the company champion, Kaska. Shaan considered him his own personal student. Young, headstrong and devoted, but a peerless warrior and deadly with his dual power falchions.

"My mind and body are at ease." came the last reply from Epistolery Vitrius, a Marine having relatively recently been admitted into the Chapter's Librarium for training with his latent psychic powers which had bloomed during his Assault and Devastator training, mainly in the forms of mild foresight and telekinesis. He had made use of these traits on several missions, saving his battle-brothers on more than a few occasions and had after been inducted for Librarian training. Although he had yet to earn his psychic hood, he had gained a large amount of knowledge about the workings of the warp and had honed his skills on the battlefield, becoming a great asset to Shaan and his company. He was also relatively young, always calm and stoic during a fight.

"Good." replied Shaan, "Our skills will be tested in the coming fight. For the Emperor, brothers, and good luck."

"In His name." the other three murmured.

"Ten seconds." the pilot-servitor droned, "Five, four, three, two..."

There was a massive jolt and a bang as the drop pod rocketed out of the underbelly of the _Shadow Caller_. Shaan felt his drop-harness tighten as the G-forces acting upon the pod increased. It shuddered violently and his armour's systems registered a slight rise in temperature as the pod shot into the atmosphere. He shut off his auditory sensors to block off the roar the friction was producing.

"Drift of fifty kilometres," the servitor said, "Firing maneuvering thrusters."

The pod juddered as aforementioned thrusters fired, directing the pod towards its designated landing zone.

"Course correction complete, twenty seconds to impact."

Shaan closed his eyes, and started reciting the Litany Of Death under his breath. "...That thou wouldst bring them only death..."

"Ten seconds, hellfire missile battery loaded."

"...And we shall know no fear..."

"Five seconds."

"As we carry out His will..."

"Impact!"

The pod hit the ground in a massive plum of dirt and grit, throwing dust up into the air and throwing the occupants around in their harnesses. The ramps shop open and dusty sunlight streamed in. Shaan's enhanced eyesight adjusted automatically.

"In the name of the Emperor!" Shaan yelled the last line of litany as he charged down the ramp, his master-crafted bolter already roaring.

They had landed just behind the holding Guard line, as planned, though it didn't look like the Guard would last much longer. Enemy grunts had swarmed the forward trench, and were engaging in a brutal melee in which the Guard were hopelessly outnumbered. His command squad followed him out, their own weapons already shredding the ranks of the enemy. Hellfire missiles from a small box inside the drop pod fired off, spiralling into the enemy lines and sending limbs, bodies and emplacements skywards.

To his left, Nykona's and Khorus's squads advanced over a small hill, the Tactical Squad advancing slowly and steadily, sending well-disciplined volleys of fire into the enemy ranks. The Devastator Squad crested the hill and opened fire, a lascannon and a plasma cannon slagging a Predator tank. Shaan's eyes narrowed.

"Traitor Marines!" he cried as he spotted the red and black giants among the enemy forces, "Five, and a Predator tank! Pick targets and focus fire!" he instructed over the vox.

A large crash and dirt showering onto his head alerted him to the arrival of Tarrik's Tactical Squad behind him, the ten-strong squad already adding their fire to that of Shaan's, Nykona's and Khorus's.

Two traitor marines fell back, ancient power armour breached and bodies shredding from the mass of bolter fire.

A burst from Shaan's bolter claimed a third, two bolts rending a defaced pauldron, the third and fourth detonating against the thick torso armour and the fifth penetrating the seal covering the neck, between the torso armor and the helmet. The marine's head detonated, sending blood, brain matter and armour fragments into the milling crowd of heretics around him.

The enemy forces had noticed them now, the heretics that had before been screaming with glee at the prospect of butchering the Guardsmen in the trench were now in retreat, wailing in terror at the sight before them. The two remaining traitor marines had now opened fire with their own bolters, and the mass-reactive shells detonated the dirt around Shaan, sending up small showers around him as he advanced. The remaining Predator tank had begun swivelling it's turret towards them.

"Brother Khorus, the tank!" Shaan voxed.

"We have it, Captain." came the reply, "Astrus, high-intensity, turret to fuel block!"

The Devastator Marine's multi-melta shot was near-perfect, the two bright blue beams penetrating the armour where the turret was connected to the chassis, severing the lascannon's power cables and continuing on to penetrate the fuel block, where it ignited the highly flammable promethium fuel. The enemy predator went up in a large explosion, killing several cultists around it with shrapnel.

"Good shot lad!" Khorus exclaimed, clapping Astrus on the pauldron. There was a reason Khorus' Devastator Squad was considered one of the best in the Chapter, and that was because Brother-Sergeant Khorus made sure they were the best. Every Marine that came out of his squad was an excellent marksman, and the ones that stayed, even better, every Astartes passing through that squad spending hundreds of hours familiarising themselves with every ranged weapon the armoury had to offer, in and out of combat.

Shaan's vox-bead buzzed. "Do you read me, Shadow Captain?" came the voice of Brother-Sergeant Stryke.

"I read you brother, go ahead."

"My squad and I encountered flak during the drop. We were knocked off course and we estimate we are around five kilometres to your west, beyond the ridge. The drop pod sustained damage, but we have suffered no injuries."

"I see," Shaan replied, "Very well then, make your way back to us, but be cautious."

"Always am, brother." Stryke replied before cutting the line.

They had advanced past the Guard line, the Astartes of the Tactical Squads having eliminated the heretics in the trenches and leaping the gap, crossing into the no-man's-land that seperated the two sides.

Kaska's Stalker-pattern bolter claimed another enemy Astartes, a perfect headshot from just over a hundred metres. The remaining traitor was shredded by Sergeant Khorus' gilded heavy bolter, .75 calibre mass-reactive shells punching straight through the traitor's chest plate and leaving a mangled and ruined corpse.

"Focus on the emplacements now!" Shaan shouted, "Targets of priority! Ignore the small arms, your armour will take it!"

Gentrian and Vitrius advanced beside Shaan, Vitrian snapping off shots with a bolt pistol while clutching his power sword in the other hand, and Gentrian focusing his fire on enemy bunkers and emplacements with his plasma rifle, his chainsword sheathed at his waist. Small arms fire from crude autoweapons and stolen lasguns pattered off their power armour like rain.

A frag missile from Khorus' Devastators sailed into an enemy dugout, blasting limbs high into the air. Pinpoint fire from Nykona's squad killed the gunners of an autocannon and Gentrian's plasma fire melted the last emplacement, the gunners of the heavy bolter wailing in terror and fleeing from the destroyed weapon, before a heavy bolter from Tarrik's Tactical Squad detonated them in showers of blood.

"Injuries?" Shaan inquired.

"Brother Korian took bolt rounds to the left shoulder," came Tarrik's voice, "The pauldron is destroyed, but the secondary layer protected his flesh. He can fight."

"Very well then. All threats have been eliminated." spoke Shaan coldly over the vox, locking his bolter to his thigh and drawing his power sword, his cape billowing behind him. "Khorus, provide support fire and rally the remaining Guard forces, In the name of the Emperor, into them!" he bellowed, sprinting into the midst of the fleeing heretics, his sword cutting a bloody swath through them. Kaska was right behind him, his dual falchions covering Shaan's back. The Epistolery and Gentrian were there with them, melee weapons reaping a bloody toll.

Vitrius concentrated, channeling the power of the warp around him, and dozens of hiltless kineblades levitated out of sheaths around his body. Then, with subtle flicks of his wrists, they dove and sliced through limbs and necks, plunging into hearts and throats, before flying back out and claiming another target, all while his power sword sliced through the enemy.

The Tactical Squads charged in after them, bolt pistols and combat knives drawn. It was of no matter, the heretics could no longer pose any threat. The Raven Guard pushed them back towards the jungle, into which they were fleeing. All was going according to plan.

Brother-Sergeant Khorus smiled under his helmet and lowered his heavy bolter. There went the Captain, charging into the fray as always.

"Squad, continue to provide support fire! I'm going to deal with the Guardsmen over there, so advance without me. Watch for emerging threats, keep potentials off of the Captain and the other squads. I'll have an eye on you. Astrus, that was a damn nice shot earlier, and Kavar, not too eager with the heavy bolter, I don't want another letter of complaint from the techpriests about your ammo expenditure!"

He left his squad to the sound of a bout of laughter at Brother Kavar's expense and approached the trench where the Guardsmen were recovering from the brutal melee that had ensued earlier. The trench itself was soaked in blood, the ground not even visible under the sheer piles of dismembered bodies from both sides. He saw a soldier climb out of the trench wearily and look around, carapace armour damaged and a hellpistol and sword clutched in his hands. A stormtrooper, Kasrkin, if he remembered the term correcty, of the Cadian 212th, one of the Guard regiments on the taskforce, and also the only Guard regiment groundside, as the 97th Armour Battalion and the Mechanicus forces would have taken too long to deploy under the circumstances. They looked badly beaten.

Khorus grinned, snuck up behind the stormtrooper, making no noise despite weighing more than a ton (not including his heavy bolter) and looked down at the mortal.

"Are you in charge here?"

The Kasrkin whirled around and his eyes widened. The look of shock and awe on his face was priceless. Khorus never got tired of that.

The stormtrooper made the sign of the Aquila and bowed. "My lord, my apologies, I did not see you there-"

"You did not answer my question, stormtrooper." Khorus almost snorted in amusement.

The stormtrooper answered hastily, "No, my lord, that would be Colonel Raines at the staging area HQ. The three ranking here are myself, Major Wilder of A Company, and Commissar Lindblum, sir."

"And you are?" Khorus asked, making sure to inject some feigned impatience into his voice.

"Captain Eckbar, my lord, of the Cadian Two-Twelve's Kasrkin Attachment."

"Very well then Captain. I am Brother-Sergeant Khorus of the Raven Guard Fourth Company, and here is what I want you to do. Me and my brothers are going to hold at the edge of the forest for the next forty minutes, during that time, relay these orders back to your fellow commanders, rally and recover, then take all your forces and meet us at the edge of the jungle. I assume you have been briefed that we are to move into the jungle in search of a structure, and that we are to eliminate hostile forces along the way?"

"Yes, my lord." The Kasrkin's voice was stronger now, more confident.

"Good, so prepare your forces well for jungle combat. Do you have a working voxcaster nearby that can relay back to the HQ?"

"Yes, we do my lord."

"Excellent. Relay a message back to HQ for Inquisitor Garren Ricci and Interrogator Iona Asaheim. Tell them the Raven Guard have arrived, provided support and the way to the forest is now clear."

"Is that all, my lord?" Khorus looked around at that.

"What are your losses like, Captain?"

The Kasrkin seemed surprised at that question. Khorus theorised that the Captain probably thought that an Astartes wouldn't care about the lives of mortal men. The stormtrooper would be wrong there. The Raven Guard weren't the Iron Hands. To an extent, they tried to save as many lives as possible, the Raven himself would have disapproved if they didn't, after all.

"I don't think they are as bad as we initially thought, thanks your timely arrival, my lord. We are still combat capable." Eckbar replied confidently.

"Very well then, add onto the message that the Cadian 212th are combat-capable, and that Shadow Captain Shaan would greatly appreciate Skitarii support from the Mechanicus as well."

"As you wish, my lord." the soldier said, bowing again.

"Good, and by the way," Khorus leaned down close to the Kasrkin, "Loosen up son, you're doing a lot better than most. Now, carry on."

Khorus spun and raised his heavy bolter again, heading back towards his squad, who had taken up position on an incline overlooking the edge of the forest.

He activated his vox, "Kavar, finger off the trigger a bit more, if you would."

* * *

Eckbar stood in place for a good five seconds watching the Astartes depart, then turned back towards the trench, where he noticed Lindblum, Wilder, Roland and the rest of his squad looking at him, just peeking over the lip of the trench at him. Eckbar strode over and dropped into the trench. They all looked at him.

"What?"

"Inquisitor, sir, a message from the Astartes on the vox for you."

Inquisitor Garren Ricci stood from his chair, sharp features displaying amusement and violet eyes twinkling, cape billowing out behind him and a rosette of the Ordo Xenos displayed proudly on his lightly armoured chest. His sword hung at an angle from his waist and a pistol of ancient and deadly design was in a holster at his thigh.

"Well it's about damn time. I would have expected much more prudence from the Emperor's Finest."

"Umm..." the vox-operator stammered.

Ricci smiled, "Play the message." he said in a tone indicating he wasn't actually annoyed.

The message came through, crackling but clear, "This is Kasrkin Captain Patrik Eckbar, relaying a message to Inquisitor Garren Ricci and Interrogator Iona Asaheim from Brother-Sergeant Khorus and Shadow Captain Aethon Shaan. The Astartes have arrived, provided support and the way to the jungle is now clear. The Cadian 212th have taken acceptable losses and are combat ready, but Shadow Captain Shaan would appreciate Skitarii support from the Mechanicus as well. No losses among the Astartes, and they will be moving into the forest in forty minutes. That is all."

"No losses among the Astartes," Ricci smiled, "Did I detect a tinge of jealousy or awe there at the end?"

The aide looked nervous. Ricci turned dismissively, "Get a line to the _Glory To The Cog_ , ask for Magos Bure Tevlan. Tell him Inquisitor Garren Ricci requests additional Skitarii support, authorisation code Phi-Omega-Gamma Slash Two-B. Tell them if it can't be at the forest in less than forty minutes, then forget about it. Let Colonel Raines and Colonel Aleuton know I'm heading out to the field."

The aide nodded. Ricci nodded out and swept out of the tactica control centre.

"Iona, we're going."

"Ah, finally. The waiting was killing me." A warm female voice said from behind him.

Interrogator Iona Asaheim fell into step next to him, shimmering black hair trailing behind her and ice blue eyes shining with excitement, yet intelligence. She was more than a pretty face. Two ornate autopistols hung in shoulder rigs and a pair of patinaed power hand-axes hung from her hip over a storm-grey lightly armoured bodyglove, similar to her mentor's. When she smiled, it was ferel, and fangs could almost be seen, even though she had none.

"The Astartes made their call?" she inquired.

"Yeah," Ricci answered, "We're heading out now."

"And the Guard?"

"Good for another fight. We'll meet up with them at the wood's edge."

She murmured, "Still, what we are searching for, Garren, I can't help but have a strange feeling about this. It is... _anellsa_. Did I ever tell you that one?"

Ricci nodded, "I sense of foreboding, eh?" he replied, remembering the Fenrisian term.

"I've been right before, haven't I?"

"Yeah. This just makes it all the more exciting." he said, smiling.

Iona smiled another feral smile, "True. Very true."

Ricci noticed the Inquisitorial Chimera parked up ahead, the engine already running. A group of five Inquisitorial Stormtroopers were sat around the back hatch chatting. One of them looked their way and pointed, and the squad immediately stood, making the sign of the Aquila.

"Sergeant Rorsch!" Ricci said as they came up to them, "You boys ready for some action?"

Sergeant Merrik Rorsch and his squad. Not simply mind-washed stormtroopers, but trained men recruited from Stormtrooper battalions all over the Segmentum and sworn to secrecy and a life in the Inquisition. The best of the best.

Rorsch's grizzled features smiled a devious and excited smile, red and black carapace armour shifting effortlessly under him. He made a show of cocking his prized sniper rifle. "Inquisior Ricci, Lady Asaheim," he acknowledged both of them with a large grin. "I'm offended that you would think otherwise. Ready to kick ass and take names, right Jesse?"

"Damn straight, sir!" one of the troopers wielding a hellgun answered loudly and proudly. The rest of the troopers exclaimed loudly in agreement.

Rorsch jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the trooper without breaking the Inquisitor's gaze, "You heard the man!"

Ricci smiled, "Very well then." he said mischeviously, his eyes glinting, "Iona here has a feeling of _anellsa_! Anyone else getting excited?"

"Foreboding huh? This should be a good one!" Rorsch laughed as they all climbed into the Chimera. Rorsch clambered to the front of the compartment and banged on the driver's door twice. The engine rumbled underneath them as they transport began to move.

"Let's get this show on the road!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **Well, I've had this idea floating around in my head for about a year now and I finally decided to write it. I've got a good idea of where I want it to go and what to do with it, and how I want the characters to develop, despite how large the cast is going to be. Seriously, I've got so many characters already and this is only the end of the first chapter. I dunno, maybe that indicates how grand a scale I am planning. Or perhaps I'm just gonna overload myself with the sheer amount of different personalities I've got to deal with. I generally find interesting characters and dialogue rather difficult to write, though I'm trying to write more character archetypes than the generic 40k "courage and honour and stoicism".**

 **I can't promise regular updates, but I'll do my best, especially now my summer break is starting soon. Leave reviews please, don't afraid to be blunt or harsh with your criticisms, I want to learn and make this story the best it can be. On the other hand, say what you enjoyed and what you think I should include more of. This is for you guys as well after all, not just for me.**


	3. Chapter 2: Death To The Traitors

**Saviours Of The Mantle**

 _ **Chapter 2: Death To The Traitors**_

 _"You carry the Emperor's will as your torch, and with it, you will destroy the shadows."_

 _-Verses of Sigismund, Book CIV, Verse I_

"Keep your heads on a swivel. They could be anywhere." Wilder instructed his company, trying to look more calm than he felt, as he gestured to the soldiers behind him to fan out. His lasgun was raised in front of him, aiming at an enemy he couldn't see, his left hand constantly straying from his gun to brush foliage or leaves out of the way. The entire company had bayonets already attached to their guns, some still slick with blood from the earlier trench warfare. He hated jungle combat. He turned to one of the troopers.

"Raydee, anything on the sweeper?"

"No sir, just some ghosting. No hard returns." the trooper replied nervously, sweeping an auspex set back and forth.

"Keep on it." Wilder muttered. On a second thought, he added, "All flamers, move to the front, set for narrow jet, high pressure, make sure to get get some range on your burn. There's no solid cover here in this jungle."

Several troopers lugging flamers, pilot lights lit, hurried to the front of the slowly advancing group. His Company and Lieutenant Knake's B Company had been slowly making their way through the jungle for just over two hours, and there had been no sign of the enemy or the primary objective. Right now, there were just over six hundred Guardsmen in his immediate area. Mira's C Company and Brann's D Company advanced four kilometres to their west, with Londark's E Company and Corvin's F Company five to their east. G and H Companies had been elected to stay out of the jungle in reserve. The was a real danger of getting lost, but all the companies of the 212th kept in constant vox communication and officers in each carried flares for signalling above the trees. A contact with the enemy warranted a flare. A Skitarii support group, roughly one hundred strong, had been shuttled down as they were about to embark on their hunt, requested by the Astartes. Those were advancing to the south, and frankly, Wilder was glad they were nowhere near him. They almost scared him, with bodies almost entirely machine and weapons mounted where limbs should be, yet covered in furs and talismans of their Machine God.

Eckbar's squad was advancing around one and a half kilometres to the west of A Company, ready to support whatever group needed them. The Astartes had advanced with them for the first twenty minutes or so, spread out between the Guard companies, but had then disappeared ahead of them. The Tactical Squad initially advancing with A Company, lead by an Astartes who had introduced himself to Wilder as Brother-Sergeant Nykona, seemed simply to have just vanished when no-one was looking. No vox-contact, no spoken word, nothing. How did soldiers that size simply disappear without a sound? Wilder shook his head.

"Astartes back-up. Right." he muttered dryly under his breath.

"You say something, Major?"

Wilder looked around to see the form of Commissar Lindblum come up behind him, heavy boots crunching dry twigs on the ground.

"Nothing much, Commissar," Wilder replied, looking at him, "Just musing that some vox-contact from the Astartes would have been nice."

Lindblum shook his head, "I've fought with them before. A few times on various missions in and around the Gate. I've seen how they act towards us, they don't care about us. We're just simple mortals to them, expendable. Sure, we're the ones that get the job done, but they just come swooping in at the last moment to steal the glory and they get lauded as the _heroes."_ Lindblum spat the final world. "No-one cares about the friggin' Guard, Wilder. You know that, I know that, the troopers know that, everyone bloody knows that."

Wilder grunted. He would have killed for a smoke. Always calmed him right the frig down, like a fucking security blanket. He tugged at the collar of his fatigues under his flak jacket, the heat of the jungle was getting to him. He looked around, several of the troopers looked tired.

He turned back to Lindblum, "Water break?" he whispered.

"No, keep 'em going." Lindblum muttered back, "I don't wanna be caught with our pants down."

Wilder muttered an affirmative, brushing another leaf out of his way and lifting his leg stepping over a large branch. The tension was thick in the air, and it was bogging everyone down. The troopers were tired, they had had very little in the way of rest since deployment, and the humidity of the jungle was only making things worse. They didn't even have any armour support, the 97th Armour didn't have time to deploy properly and even if they did, they would have been useless in this jungle. The foliage was so dense and the terrain so bumpy that not even Sentinel walkers could get through. If it were Wilder's choice, he would have just flattened the place from orbit, but apparently the main objective was too important. Wilder scoffed. How frigging important could it be? It's not like anything the Imperium ever discovered was good. He was grumpy. Diverted to this miserable little unnamed world instead of rushing to the aid of his besieged homeworld, who the hell did Imperial Command think they were?

"Hren, anything on the vox?" he asked, hoping for something. Anything at this point would have been lovely.

"No, nothing," The vox operator replied, "Nothing since the last update."

"Do the rounds." Wilder replied, "How's everyone doing?"

Hren pulled the vox-horn off the large pack on his back and pressed a button, rapidly chattering into it. Wilder heard several voices reply through the speaker. Hren nodded, replied, and put the horn back.

"All companies still advancing at a steady pace sir, no news."

Wilder sighed. "Right."

He brushed another branch out of the way and several small twigs snapped under his boot. He almost jumped. He was getting twitchy, and it pissed him off.

"Sir, riverbed up ahead, dried out." Sergeant Wrayt shouted from up ahead, gesturing with his hand, alerting Wilder to the terrain. Wilder clicked his vox-bead, "All squads, halt, halt, halt." He switched his bead to the officer's frequency. "Knake, you read?" he said, hoping the CO of B Company was still in range of his short-range device.

"Yeah, loud and clear. What ya got Wild?" came the Lieutenant's voice. Wilder made his way towards Wrayt and looked down. It was a fairly steep incline, around eight metres high, leading into a dried out riverbed. It wasn't slippery, but it was threaded with rocks and branches. They could traverse it, but with a risk of sprained ankles. Wilder snorted. "We got an incline leading down to a riverbed here, about eight or nine metres. It's gonna take a while to get everyone down it. You seeing anything like this?"

"Wait a sec," came the calm reply. About thirty seconds later, his answer came, "Yeah, we see it. It'll probably take about ten minutes to get everyone safely down it."

Wilder hummed, "Agreed. We best get started."

"Affirmative," Knake replied, "Report back when everyone's down."

"Got it."

Wilder turned back to his company, just over three hundred brave fighting men and woman spread out over three hundred metres. He switched back to general frequency.

"Boys and girls, we've hit a bit of an impasse. Gather in on me, then steadily make your way down when the way is clear after the trooper before you."

He suddenly swung around when the Commissar tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Wilder snapped.

Lindblum gestured at the riverbed by the way of answer. "Look at it." he whispered, "What do you see?"

Wilder shrugged, "A fucking riverbed and some treacherous terrain. Where's this going, Nathaniel?"

"If you were the enemy, and you were running," Lindblum muttered, "You knew you'd have to face them at some point. You knew you would have to utilise every possible advantage to win. The terrain can be used as an advantage, Samuel."

Wilder blinked, then it clicked. "You're saying they'll use the incline..."

Lindblum nodded, "Look at the angle of the incline. Easy enough to get down, difficult to get back up, with no easier route in sight." he gestured to the east and west.

"If they attack when we reach the other side of the riverbed, which is flat, we'll be cut off with little cover and a very difficult retreat."

Lindblum nodded again. "Yeah, what do you think?"

"I say we let B Company know about this, and contact the other companies."

"Yeah, right."

Wilder held up his hand and the order was relayed back, the Company stopping before they could begin to climb down. Troopers knelt at the top of the incline and surveyed the jungle before them, lasguns traversing back and forth. Right now, they had the high ground. Right now, the Guard had the advantage. That could all change very quickly, and Wilder knew it.

"Hren, get the other companies on the horn."

The vox-operator nodded and removed the speaker from his caster, handing it to Wilder bedore punching a few buttons on a device mounted to the caster. He nodded to the Lieutenant.

"This is Lieutenant Wilder of A Company, broadcasting to all companies of the Cadian 212th currently advancing towards the objective. Does anyone read me?"

A few seconds passed as all the affirmatives came. Wilder directed the vox-operators of the other companies to get their CO's on the line. About thirty seconds passed before he was in contact with all the other company commanders.

"Something come up, Wild?" came Knake's voice.

"Yeah, getting to it. All companies be advised, A and B Companies have encountered some treacherous terrain which will slow our advance by roughly five to ten minutes. I also suspect there may be an enemy attack waiting for us past it, it is a ideal ambush point."

Knake murmured his agreement after seeing what Wilder was getting at.

"We have encountered no such terrain to the west, apart from a flat riverbed." Mira replied.

"The incline must have flattened out to the west." said Wilder. "It will take too long to maneuver around it. We may have to just continue down it."

"Have your troops move down in packs and fan out as soon as soon as they reach the bottom." Lieutenant Corvin advised, "Have the most forward halt advance around a hundred metres from the bottom."

"Yeah, that'll do." Wilder replied, looking round. "This is an anticipated contact point. Be on your guard."

There was a chorus of affirmatives and Wilder cut the line, turning back to Hren.

"Get me a line to the tactica control centre at the staging area HQ. Colonel Raines should be alerted of our progress."

Hren nodded, "Sir, on it."

A few seconds passed before the vox was patched back into the regimental command frequency. Hren thumbed Wilder up to indicate he was live.

"Well it's about damn time Major!" An impatient voice snapped through the vox before Wilder could speak, "I would've expected greater prudence from someone of your position!"

"With respect, ma'am, there hasn't been-" he tried to respond.

"I don't care what there has and hasn't been, Major!" Colonel Nikia Raines reprimanded, "You know I expect to be kept up-to-date at all times, especially when I'm not out there in the field with you! Do not think your recent promotion excuses you from your duties!"

"Ah, my apologies, Colonel-"

"Yeah, yeah, save it, Wilder." he could hear the Colonel sighing, "I know what you're like. Its what makes you a damn good commander. And speaking of which, how are my men? What is your progress into the jungle?"

"The men have recovered sufficiently from the earlier battle, Colonel. There has so far been no contact with the enemy inside the jungle, as such, no more casualties have been taken. We have just reached some difficult terrain, and are traversing it now. Judging the lay of the land, this is an anticipated contact point for the enemy. They would be smart to strike here."

"Then be smarter, Wilder. I assume the Inquisitor's orders to move forward no matter what still stand?"

"They do, ma'am."

"Right." she muttered dryly, "I know you don't like those orders, Wilder, and neither do I. But Inquisitorial authority stands. Continue with your mission, and keep me updated. The Emperor protects. Raines out."

The line cut and Wilder handed the vox back to Hren, sighing heavily. "We should probably get moving then."

His adjutant nodded and Wilder turned away.

He gestured to the nearest squad, "Right, Sergeant Wrayt's squad is first. Advance slowly to the bottom, and fan out to one hundred metres from the bottom. All flamers are to accompany them, watch for enemy movement."

The aforementioned squad began to scramble down to the bottom of the incline and reached the bottom without incident, before moving deeper into the jungle. Wilder directed each squad past him and down the terrain. It took more than ten minutes to move all three hundred and twenty Guardsmen, including all the support pieces, safely down the incline. Wilder and Lindblum then scrambled down themselves and moved back to the front of the group.

"Knake, you clear?" he clicked his vox-bead.

"Yeah, no sign of the enemy yet." came the reply.

"Right." Wilder said dryly, before gesturing with his hand, "Continue your advance."

The Company again began to trek deeper into the jungle, more and more sunlight being blocked out by the dense foliage with each passing minute. Strange insects buzzed around the men and the calls and howls of feral animals could be heard howling in the distance. The men maintained their discipline, eyes constantly swivelling back and forth. Most had taken the opportunity to take drinks when the Company had slowed to traverse the riverbed.

As they moved further from the riverbed, Wilder was becoming more and more sure that the enemy hadn't planned an attack here.

He was right. It wasn't for another kilometre on when the first one of them died. Ahead of Wilder, Trooper Nass in Wrayt's Squad stumbled slightly as his foot caught on something between two trees, and there was a small click.

Wilder threw himself behind a tree as the grenade went off, exploding Nass in a shower of blood and killing two others standing near him with shrapnel. Deranged screams and howls echoed from the forest, and ruby lasfire lanced out of the darkness. Trees and logs splintered under the barrage, all troopers sprinting for their nearest cover. Several were caught before they could react, falling back riddled with las wounds or autogun slugs.

"Contact, contact!" Wilder screamed, "All squads, weapons free! Hren, get on that vox!"

He squinted trying to make out bodies in the darkness of the forest. He aimed his lasgun and aimed at the origin points of lasfire and the muzzle flashes of autoguns. He breathed out, and pulled the trigger. There was a distant scream as his reward. Behind him, Hren was rapidly chattering into the vox, notifying the regiment contact had been made.

Wilder ducked back into cover and slung his weapon, reaching for the flare gun at his hip. Aiming at a slight angle off of vertical, he pulled the trigger. A bright red flare erupted through the jungle canopy. He hoped the other Imperial forces would see it.

"Sir, the other companies have all come under fire!" Hren yelled, "B Company cannot reinforce!"

"Fuck!" Wilder swore. The enemy had somehow co-ordinated enough to attack all the regimental forces in the forest at once. He didn't even know if the other companies had managed to get flares up, the jungle canopy had become so thick. They were almost fighting in the dark.

He re-aimed his lasgun and fired off several bursts in the direction of the enemy. He had no idea if he had hit anything.

A loud, shrill horn echoed throughout the area, digging into Wilder's ears. A loud roar answered from the enemy side, and to Wilder's horror, bodies started emerging out of the gloom, charging straight at them. Tens were scythed down by lasfire, but they kept on coming. There must have been hundreds. A crew served heavy bolter opened up to Wilder's left, raking the enemy lines and demolishing cover. The flamers up front had opened fire, long geysers of burning promethium spewed out of their weapon's barrels, igniting any heretic that came into their field of vision.

"Friggin' luck..." Wilder muttered, still snapping off shots with his weapon. A shot pierced a charging enemy troopers's throat, and he fell to the floor, clawing at the wound before a heavy bolter round tore through his chest.

"Commissar!" Wilder yelled, "Lindblum!"

"Yeah, what is it son?" the Commissar emerged to his right, firing his bolt pistol into the jungle.

"What are the troops looking like?"

"They're good for the moment, there's plenty of cover round here and the flamers are doing their job. I estimate we've probably lost about fifteen or so, but that could get worse."

As if to punctuate his point, a large detonation went off nearby, showering Wilder with dirt and obliterating two troopers that had been taking cover behind a large fallen tree.

"Mortars!" Wilder screamed, "Keep your heads down!"

He ducked as lasfire whizzed over his head. He returned fire at the heretics, who were still charging at them, despite the risk of being hit from the back-creep of their own artillery fire.

Another mortar detonated to his front, annihilating a tree. A sharp piece of bark flew out and impaled his right leg in a spray of blood.

"Fuck!" he cried out, collapsing to a sitting position, his wounded leg stretched out infront of him. The bark was firmly wedged in his leg, it may have pierced the bone.

"Major!" Hren yelled, the adjutant crawling over to Wilder, "Are you alright sir?"

"Yeah," Wilder gasped through the pain, "Just give me a sec."

"We have to move!" Lindblum yelled, swapping out magazines in his bolt pistol, "We're fucked if we stay here!"

"We can't retreat!" Wilder shouted back, "We're too far in! The other companies aren't able to reinforce us if we retreat!"

Lindblum grimaced, "It's your call for now Major." before moving away, "Don't make me enact Commisariat edict."

Wilder growled, pushing himself back up the tree from his sitting position and bracing his lasgun into a firing position. "Hren, give an all frequency call for reinforcements!" he yelled to the adjutant over the din of mortar explosions and the crackle of lasfire.

He sighed before sighting down his lasgun, ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg. This really wasn't his day.

* * *

Eckbar paused and cocked his head as he heard the first bursts of gunfire in the distance. Sounds like the regiment had made contact.

Behind him, Garced swung around as his vox-caster started going crazy. Yep, they had definitely made contact. He was sure the flares had already been fired, but he couldn't see anything through the damned foliage, it was too thick.

Soon enough, the frequency of gunfire increased and got louder, with the added crumping noise of mortar detonations.

He held up his hand in a tight fist and the squad came to halt behind him, hellguns trained deep into the trees. "Garced, what's the word on the vox?"

The operator looked up, "From what I can tell sir, everyone. All companies were simultaneously engaged."

"Of bloody course they were." Eckbar muttered, "Who are we closest to?"

"As of last check, we're between Knake's B Company and Mira's C Company. We can probably go to assist either one."

They had been advancing north into the jungle, with the regiment spread out east to west and the Skitarii coming in behind to assist. It made directions easy.

"Right, get me a line to the Skitarii, we need to co-ordinate with them if we want to save as many people as possible. We can't count on the Astartes for assistance, Emperor knows where they disappeared to."

Garced nodded and started twirling dials on his vox-caster. Eckbar turned his head to see Caughran approaching him from behind.

"Captain, with respect, orders were to-" she began.

"I know what orders were, Caughran, and I'm not going to abandon the Two-Twelfth just because the Inquisitor wants to find his prize that little bit faster. Wilder's counting on me, and I on him. Look, we'll continue our advance as soon as we've come to their aid. Alright? I know this jungle is getting to you, hell, it's getting to me, but I'm not leaving men to die who could have been saved just to get out of here a bit quicker."

Caughran nodded and backed down. Eckbar gave her a small nod and turned back to Garced just as the vox-caster whined tuning into the right frequency.

"Here for you, Cap." Garced handed Eckbar the speaker.

"To whom am I speaking?" he said firmly into horn. He didn't trust the Mechanicus, he had never known what to think of them.

"I am Saiixek, Secutor of the Legio Invicta Skitarii. Speak, Guardsman, or leave us be." came a deep rasping voice, sounding seldom-used and forced, as if it took the man effort to speak.

"This is Captain Patrik Eckbar, of the Cadian Two-Twelve's Stormtrooper Attachment. We require your aid, contact with the heretic forces have been made across the regiment and my squad cannot go to the aid of everyone." he replied, trying to match the Secutor's intimidating tone.

Saiixek snarled and growled, something Eckbar was sure a half-man half-machine shouldn't do. "I am aware contact has been made, Guardsman. Our orders are to continue our advance to locate the primary objective. We are not to aid other beleagered groups."

"With the utmost respect, Secutor," Eckbar almost snarled back, "If any of the companies are broken here, the enemy will be able encircle and slaughter us. Then they will come for your forces. Do not be so proud to think your small force can stand up to thousands!"

Saiixek growled, "I am a servant of the Machine-God, Guardsman. Do not think for a second-"

"Listen to the man, Saiixek." a new voice cut in on the frequency. Eckbar looked to Garced, who shrugged. The new voice was augmetic and emotionless. _Another Mechanicus_ , Eckbar thought. "Listen to him, and do as he says. Directive: The location of the objective is of highest importance. The odds of recovery are significantly higher the more forces are alive to locate it."

Saiixek snarled in annoyance, "It shall be done, my lord."

"Good." The voice cut off.

Eckbar smirked. "Now will you listen?"

Only a low angry growl came through.

"You and your forces are to advance north-west and come to the aid of Lieutenant Mira's C Company and rout the heretic forces there. Once that has been done, move your troops to aid Lieutenant Brann's D Company, and advance from there. My squad will move to assist Major Wilder's A Company and Lieutenant Knake's B Company. Understood?"

"Understood, Guardsman." came the rasping reply.

Eckbar nodded and cut the line before handing the speaker back to Garced. He let out a breath.

"Ok, squad, triple time to Knake's position, we'll hit 'em from the side!"

There was a chorus of affirmatives. Eckbar nodded and sprinted deeper into the jungle, his squad hot on his heels.

* * *

Ricci brushed another branch out of his way as he headed deeper into the jungle, flanked by Iona and Major Rorsch's squad. The stormtroopers weapons swivelled back and forth, and Iona's guns were clutched loosely in her hands, ready to snap up at any moment. Ten metres to his left were the forms of Shadow Captain Shaan, Epistolery Vitrius, Champion Kaska and Apothecary Gentrian, nearly invisible in the gloom in their jet-black armour, though Ricci was sure if they wanted to be truly invisible, they could be. The group was around two kilometres north-east of the Cadian A Company.

A sudden buzzing jerked Ricci out of his thoughts and he swung around, hand on his weapon, only to see Trooper Riggs fiddling with the stormtrooper squad's vox-caster.

"A general transmission coming through." Riggs said, "Sounds like the Two-Twelfth has been simultaneously engaged across all fronts. The Invicta Skitarii are moving to support."

"All fronts?" Ricci muttered, "but we're ahead of them, how could we have missed them?"

"Maybe we just passed through a clear area..." Rorsch mused, "Or they missed us."

"Perhaps there is warpcraft in play here," whispered Iona, "They may know we are here."

"All real possibilities." came the voice of Captain Shaan behind them, "But the machinations of the Archenemy very rarely make sense."

Ricci nodded. "Tell your brothers to move in defense of the Two-Twelfth. I wanted to locate the objective myself by moving ahead, but the Archenemy have been far more coordinated than I originally anticipated. Shadow Captain, order your men back to aid the Guardsmen."

Shaan nodded in understanding and activated his vox-bead. "Nykona, Tarrik, Stryke, Khorus, move back and hit the enemy from behind. Lend your aid to the Guardsmen. We will continue the advance."

A round of affirmatives answered him. Shaan nodded and turned back to the way they were heading.

Ricci tugged at the collar of his bodysuit. It was sweltering hot and nearly pitch-black amongst the darkness of the jungle. No sunlight pierced the canopy of trees.

"We continue on." he muttered, pushing his way past another cluster of leaves, boots squelching through the undergrowth. The stormtroopers and Astartes followed him.

"We shouldn't wait?" Iona asked him, visibly struggling with the heat. Her Fenrisian makeup clearly wasn't used to such humidity and heat.

"The secrets that await us ahead may not be for the eyes of the untrained." Ricci replied, "It is why we forged ahead of the regiment. And if it is an artifact of the Ruinous Powers, then we cannot risk a large-scale corruption. We have been trained, we can resist it. The Guardsmen may not."

"My instincts scream at me to turn back, Garren," Iona muttered, her voice low, "The hunters are being hunted." she whispered.

"Impossible." came Kaska's voice, "We'd know if they were amongst us."

"I would have sensed them," Vitrius added, "Unless there is foul sorcery afoot here."

"Yet, stranger things have happened." Gentrian said, swivelling his plasma rifle from left to right.

Ricci almost snarled. The heat was getting to him. "We will take a rest here." he announced, "I cannot think properly."

Iona and the stormtroopers had relief shown on their faces. They had been trekking constantly for nearly five hours under intense conditions. Not only was the heat getting to him and hazing his mind, but the tension was killing him. Six hours and they hadn't been shot at, not once. Given, the Guardsmen had been engaged, but that just made him wonder why they had missed the enemy when they were ahead.

"We have no need for rest, Inquisitor." Shaan pointed out, "We shall scout ahead."

Ricci nodded, "Of course, Shadow Captain, carry on."

Shaan nodded almost imperceptibly, "Right, Kaska and Vitrius, with me. Gentrian, stay here with the Inquisitor."

With that, the three giants melted into the darkness, with nary a whisper to mark their departure.

"Something that big shouldn't move that quietly." Rorsch muttered, sweeping his hand through his hair and leaning down against a tree trunk, his rifle spread across the legs.

"We train to master the arts of stealth and camoflauge our entire lives." Gentrian said, remaining standing, "From when we first are inducted into the Chapter to the day that we die. There is a reason our chapter specialises at stealth at guerilla warfare."

"And I don't argue with the results." Rorsch said, "Wouldn't want you guys sneaking up on me, that's for sure."

The old Apothecary nodded, before turning back to his watch.

Ricci sank to the ground and sighed. "Safe for a little light, Apothecary?"

The Space Marine turned slightly, considering. "The coils of my rifle already give a dim glow. A little more won't hurt. If they know we are here, it won't matter."

The Major nodded in agreement, "Mkallen, anything on the auspex?"

"Nothing within range." the stormtrooper replied.

Ricci was glad for a little light. He channeled energy through his fingers and generated a small silver warp-light in his palm and pushed it away, letting it hover and illuminate small area. He could see now though. Gentrian turned his head and stared for a second, before turning his head back to the darkness.

"That's creepy," Trooper Jesse muttered, "Never seen that used so harmlessly."

"Mine is a more subtle control." Ricci said, "Nothing so fancy as hurling lightning or divining the future. I can use it to boost my own physical abilities, as well as do things like this." he smiled, indicating the light. "Don't worry, I'm sanctioned by the Inquisition. I'm not high level or anything." he tugged at a purity seal on his left shoulder, 'It's not like I could choke you right now, or make you explode or anything."

"He has his gun for that." Iona chuckled, nodding at Ricci's holster.

Ricci smiled and drew the large pistol from its holster, flipping it around for the group to get a good look. It was powered down and deactivated, but it looked deadly all the same.

"You've all seen this in action, haven't you?"

There was a general murmer of appreciation and smiles, but Trooper Lorrin shook his head. "What is it?" he whispered, studying the weapon.

Ricci smiled, "Of course, you only just joined us."

The Inquisitor held the large pistol by the grip and pressed a button on the left side of the gun. Coils previously hidden along both lengths of the gun hummed, generating a ominous, deep red glow. The tapered point of the gun acquired a faint light around the barrel.

"Some kind of plasma weapon?" the curious trooper theorised in awe.

"You'll see soon enough." Ricci replied, powering the weapon down again.

He sighed and closed his eyes, running his hand over his face tiredly. He couldn't think, his mind felt cloudy and weak. Perhaps it was the jungle. He hadn't felt right since they had flown in from orbit, and the feeling had only magnified when they had entered the jungle. It may have been psychic whispering, after all, the thing they were searching for was apparently immensely powerful. Or so the message from his mentor had claimed.

He purposefully slowed his breathing and relaxed, extending his psychic presence around him. Everything became slightly clearer and sharper in the grim darkness of the trees. The low volume of Riggs' active vox-caster came into his hearing range, the cries of the Two-Twelfth's voxes echoing in his ears. The tiny squeak of a cleaning rag as Rorsch wiped around the barrel of his rifle. A slight clack as Iona tapped one of her autopistols lightly against her head, deep in thought. The near-silent hum of the power generator of Gentrian's armour. All became clear to him as he relaxed his mind. His warp-light grew a little dimmer, and he began murmuring the Litany Of Warding under his breath.

He went further outwards still, probing into the darkness. He started as he detected a presence five hundred metres away. He instantly released a breath when he realised it was the psychically active mind of Epistolery Vitrius, creeping amongst the trees. He withdrew, not wanting to disturb the Marine from his scouting. He turned his mind to the south, where gunfire and explosions could be heard. Deep fear, anger and hatred could be felt from that direction, as the Two-Twelfth began to rout the attacking forces. He recognised the minds of the squads of the Raven Guard, and of Secutor Saiixek as they slaughtered their way through the heretics. Relief from the Guardsmen could also be felt as the reinforcements plowed into the enemy lines.

His attention turned to the north-west, where the trees grew thicker still. A pang of fear hit him as his mind probed into those trees, black edges started to line his vision-

"Garren."

His head snapped up, breaking his reverie. "What?" he snapped.

Everyone looked up in surprise. Iona's ice blue eyes stared at him in confusion.

"No one said anything." she said unsurely.

"I heard a voice. A male voice." he replied firmly.

"None of us spoke, Inquisitor." Gentrian said, "I surely would have heard it."

Ricci swivelled his head. Thinking back, it didn't sound like any of their voices-

"Garren."

"There it is again!" Ricci almost shouted, springing to his feet, hand on his holster. The rest of the group instantly sprung to their feet in reaction to his movement, drawing weapons. Ricci knew it, he had been looking at the group when he had heard the voice again. It certainly wasn't any of them. It was a light, almost ethereal voice.

Rorsch grunted, sighting down his rifle into the blackness. "I didn't hear anything."

The rest of his squad muttered in agreement. "Nothing on the auspex." said Mkallen, sweeping the set around.

"Psychic, perhaps?" asked Iona, "You are the only sensitive here."

Ricci grunted an acknowledgement. He hadn't considered that. "Of course. Cover me."

He cautiously extended his mind again, focusing back towards the north-west. He edged back into the utter blackness, towards where he had last been focused. Black tendrils began to worm their way into the edges of his vision. He almost withdrew when a sinister whispering began to filter into his senses. He couldn't make heads nor tails of the voices. The continued onwards, the voices becoming louder, almost as if they were speaking right into his ear. He fought against them and pushed them back, ignoring their wordless sounds and whisperings. Deeper into the thicket he went, at least another kilometre on now.

"RECLAIMER."

His mind reeled from the psychic shout, but he didn't pull back. A small light came into his warp-vision, a small golden light amongst the darkness of the jungle. He instantly flew towards it, determined to find his path now. The light grew, and the voices whispering and tugging at him grew light and joyous, like a choir of vox-cherubs playing hymns at an Ecclesiarchy temple. Black tendrils withdrew, the golden light almost filling his sight-

"RECLAIMER."

He broke through, golden light fading away to reveal a white background, with a single humanoid figure standing before him. The jungle was gone, replaced by a clean blank room. The figure approached, lit by a silver light from behind. Geometric blue lines criss-crossed across silver-grey form-fitting angular armour, bulked out at the chest and growing thinner downwards. Looking closer, Ricci saw that the armour wasn't entirely attached together, rather floating together to resemble a humanoid form. A helmet, blank, with only a single large synthetic eye in the middle, stared at him.

Ricci almost panicked and reinforced his mental barriers. This was no Imperial design. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't. His anger at the abomination grew as he brought his psychic power to bear, ready to attack-

The humanoid raised his hand in a gesture of placation. "Worry not, Inquisitor of The Emperor."

Ricci recognised it as the voice that was calling to him in the forest. It was light, ethereal yet synthetic at the same time.

"I am not your enemy. I have what you seek, yet, the forces of the Ruinous Powers attempt to reach me as we speak. I do not have long, Garren Ricci, hurry."

He tried to shout back, but found himself expelled from the white room, hurtling back through the dark jungle and slammed back into his own body with a shock. He stumbled and fell backwards. Iona caught him heavily and hefted him back up. He staggered away and expelled the contents of his stomach all over the ground.

"How long was I gone?" he muttered, wiping his mouth messily with the back of his hand. The taste of bile was strong in his throat.

"About thirty seconds." Iona replied, "I take it it was psychic then?"

Before Ricci could answer, he found himself blinded by the medical light mounted on the back of Apothecary Gentrian's armour. The Astartes stared deeply into his eyes for a few seconds, before withdrawing and sliding his needles back into his narthecium.

"Merely psychic backlash." Gentrian said, "Nothing to worry about. It wasn't a great deal of power."

"Didn't feel like it." Ricci groaned, "I believe I have located our objective."

"Where?" Iona urged.

"Around two kilometres north-west. Apothecary, recall your brothers. We're moving out."

* * *

The Skitarii had hit the enemy forces attacking C and D Companies with the force of a Baneblade at the exact moment Captain Eckbar's Kasrkin hit the forces attacking A and B Companies. The Astartes, who had moved on further ahead, looped round and smashed into the enemy flanks, slaughtering them. Within minutes, all the attacking heretics had been routed and the ground forces changed direction, advancing towards the north-west, where it was suspected their real objective lay.

* * *

"Admiral, ground forces have reported they have located the primary objective and are approaching it as we speak.

Quarren turned to his aide. "It's about time. What has the Inquisitor found?"

"They have reported a massive floating spire in the middle of the jungle. It should have been visible for miles around and to our orbital scans, but it only appeared when they came into a three hundred metre radius of it."

"Warpcraft then." Quarren muttered, "No wonder we couldn't pick anything up."

"It would appear so, sir."

The Admiral grunted, "Transmit the co-ordinates to the _Androdamicus_ and the _Divine Absolution_. If we recieve word from the Inquisitor, I want a full salvo from both ships on that location. We are not taking any chances here."

Far away from the _Hammer's Retribution_ , two grand cruisers locked in a geostationary orbit above the target landmass swivelled slightly, adjusting rows upon rows of macrocannons, deck guns, heavy weapons batteries and lance emplacements towards the Inquisitor's location.

* * *

Iona's first shot punched through the back of the first heretic, splattering his blood across the ground in front of him. Her heavy autopistol barked again and slammed back as it sent another massive round downrange to blow the throat out of a cultist charging at the entrance of the spire. Bringing her other gun to bear in her left hand, a squeeze of the trigger sent a bullet through the spine of another unsuspecting enemy.

Beside her, Rorsch's sniper rifle banged heavily, doming a heretic manning a autocannoon two hundred metres away. A second shot killed the loader.

The spire had come into view out of nowhere when they had come within around three hundred metres of it. One second there was nothing ahead of them but a large clearing, the next there was a towering, floating silver spire criss-crossed with orange and blue geometric lines filling their vision, stretching hundreds of metres into the sky.

To say Ricci had been surprised was an understatement. The same with the Raven Guard Epistolery. Both were psychic and yet neither of them had detected any warpcraft at work.

At the base of the spire was a colossel doorway, probably large enough to roll a super-heavy tank through with room to spare. The entrance was the scene of a massive firefight between the heretic forces, who had the backing of more of the Red Corsairs traitor Astartes, fighting against what looked to Iona like flying drones, which nimbly flew around the doorway, returning fire with what appeared to be beam weapons. The drones themselves had the same style aesthetic as the spire, silver with geometric patterns and glowing blue lights. The heretics were advancing though, the drones were susceptible to massed las fire and bolter fire, and while their beam weapons could shred through the lightly armoured heretics, they only left blackened scorches on the power armour of the Corsairs.

"Into them, deny the filth entrance!" Ricci cried, unshipping his pistol from it's holster and slamming a cartridge into a compartment under the gun. Coils grew red and Ricci flicked a switch on the side with his thumb, arming it.

A high pitched whine sounded, and the weapon flashed. A beam as hotter than the core of a plasma forge disintegrated a heretic where he stood. The beam flashed again, sweeping left and vaporised two more cultists in flashes of light. The Volkite Serpenta whined and flashed, the ancient weapon carving through the heretic ranks, atomising armour and bodies. The beam swept across the chestplate of a Corsair, the beam superheating through the ancient ceramite and setting the traitor on fire inside his armour. The traitor fell, writhing and clawing at his own armour. A round from Vitrius' bolt pistol put him out of his misery.

By now, the enemy forces had noticed the Imperials behind them, and began to track their weapons towards them. The Raven Guard Tactical Squads rose out of the darkness, bolters and heavy weapons roaring. Sergeant Stryke's Assault Squad crashed into the heretic lines from the sky on pillars of flame, chainswords biting deep into flesh and bone. Khorus' Devastators kept the enemy suppressed, cowering behind trees, rocks, or the silver barriers spread throughout the clearing before the spire.

Shadow Captain Shaan was a blur, charging into the enemy lines with his power sword in a two-handed grip, backed closely by Champion Kaska and his falchions. Together they wreaked a maelstrom of death amongst the trapped enemy. The strange drones continued to flit about the battlefield, energy beams strafing the lines. But they weren't firing on the Imperials, something Ricci was very curious about. Could it have been something to do with the psychic vision he had earlier?

With the arrival of the forward Guard and Skitarii forces ten minutes later, the area before the spire entrance was a mass graveyard for the heretic forces, several hundred bodies littering the clearing, occasionally punctuated by a broken shell of Corsair power armour. There were no casualties among the Imperial line that had been using the treeline for cover, but several tens of the alien drones had been destroyed. The rest of the drones had come to a hover around the entrance to the spire, watching the Imperials but not moving. Ricci had given the order not to fire upon them, despite protests from Shaan and initial hostility from all forces involved. They had aided them during the fight, and were not presently hostile. The Inquisitor was content to leave them be. Should they impede his completion of the primary objective however, well, that was a different matter.

The Inquisitor gestured to Rorsch, Iona and Shaan. "Gather your men, we will move in."

* * *

"So this is what we were fighting for." Wilder muttered, lighting a smoke and dropping down on a log, looking up at the spire. He snorted and took a drag, "Lost good men for a shiny fucking tower and some xenos machines." he glanced over at the silver drones hovering around the entrance. His lasgun was easily within reach, though he doubted he would be able to move as fast as usual. His right leg hurt like hell, and he had lost a lot of blood. He had only gotten it patched up when Eckbar's Kasrkin had arrived on scene, and the Captain's own medicae had seen to him. His own company's medicae had had his own problems. The clearing and the treeline surrounding it currently held the entirety of the A, B, C and D Companies, as well as around fifty Astartes and a hundred Skitarii. E and F Companies had turned back after the attack to rejoin G and H Companies at the staging area. The darkness of the jungle contrasted massively with the brightness of the clearing around the spire, as there was not a cloud in the sky.

"I'll never understand the minds of Inquisitors." Lindblum said, sitting down next to Wilder, "Seen a few in my day, and I'll never get 'em. Take commands of entire regiments to forward their own agendas. No regard for the lives they're commanding. It's a piss-poor joke, the amount of power they have. And now he's sparing those xenos contructs. What friggin' next?"

Wilder nodded. He was used to the old Commissar's grumbling. Not many frontline Guardsmen could say they had formed friendships with their Commissars, but it was hard not to like Lindblum, especially looking at the Commissars of some other regiments.

"Ya seen the Cap' anywhere?"

"Last saw him near Mira's lot. That was backaways though." Lindblum replied. "Caught glimpses of hellgun fire from the treeline over there when we were fighting. They're probably still over there." he continued, pointing over towards the western edge of the clearing some two hundred metres away.

"Right." Wilder said, "Thanks, Commissar."

He rose and flicked his smoke away, crushing it under the heel of his uninjured leg. He turned towards the middle of the clearing to see a group of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers accompanyed by two of the Astartes marching towards the entrance. At their head was a man in a black get-up with a cape, a sword and a fancy gun. There was an attractive woman by his side.

"Tch," he muttered, "Own agendas indeed. Don't start a war with another damned xenos race while we're here, bloody Inquisitor. I have a homeworld to fight for."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

 **Can you believe the first half of this chapter has been sitting in stasis since the first half of February, and the first chapter since November? Don't take that as an indication of me being a slow writer by any means though, all of that time has been spent planning the story, and a lot of it debating whether I was actually going to publish or not, because I know if I publish, I have to finish the fic. Anything else would be sheer heresy. I've actually had this chapter finished since before I published the fic, but I kept it back because I didn't want to release all my content straight away.**

 **Anyway, thank you so much for the positive responses to the first chapter, I really wasn't sure if it was up to standard or not, but apparently it was, which is lovely. Please, continue to review and critique, and I should have the next chapter ready for you very soon. For those of you who were wondering, Halo will be coming into it within the next couple of chapters. And it's going to be a hell of an entrance. Stay tuned!**


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